SEED IMPROVEMENT MEETING. 225 



who keeps an account with his cows, and the majority of cow 

 owners who keep no records beHeve that the silo is a necessity. 

 Yet, notwithstanding this constant demonstration of the silo 

 as an important part of the business equipment, there are many 

 cattle owners who have not yet investigated silo construction. 

 For this reason I present to you some of the phases of silo loca- 

 tion, cost, and construction. I do not attempt to prescribe a cure- 

 all for your feeding troubles. Neither can I tell you what it 

 will cost to build a silo on your own farm, since conditions 

 differ widely. The ideas and figures which I bring to you are 

 not new. Some of them have been obtained through concerns 

 manufacturing silo material, others from experiment station 

 investigations, and still others from my own observation and 

 experience in eight states of this country and two of the Cana- 

 dian provinces. 



SILAGE CROPS. 



The principal crop for the silo is corn, though numerous 

 other green crops have been used successfully — such as clover, 

 oats and peas, various grasses, Japanese and German millets, 

 soy beans, and beet tops, besides other crops which grow far- 

 ther south. 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE SILO. 



The first silos to be constructed were merely pits dug in the 

 earth, in which fresh vegetables and fodders were tramped. 

 These pits were covered with earth and not infrequently w^eight- 

 ed with stones. It is said that the first silos on the western 

 hemisphere were used by some tribes of vSouth American In- 

 dians to preserve fish for winter use. 



The next step in the development was a rectangular room of 

 varying proportions, but usually with the height not exceeding 

 one of the floor dimensions. This type of silo did noc prove 

 particularly satisfactory on account of the lack of depth and 

 hence lack of pressure, as well as because of the relatively 

 great surface exposed to the air. 



The next general class of silos was those having a greater 

 depth than any one floor dim.ension. These were first rectangu- 

 lar or square, and the farmer often built them in a band or 



15 



